On Bierce, Gandhi, and a recent sermon
“Cynic ] Cf. “The Town Crier” (NL, 9 Mar. 1872: 9), where AB encapsulates his philosophy in his supposed parting column: “Be as decent as you can. Don’t believe without evidence. Treat things divine with marked respect–don’t have anything to do with them… Cultivate a taste for distasteful truths. And, finally, most important of all, endeavor to see things as they are, not as they ought to be.” –Ambrose Bierce
This was an interesting entry from The Devil’s Dictionary because Bierce was probably one of the most famous cynical writers in U.S. history. What is cynicism? I think it is mainly telling impolite truths that sometimes go too far. Someone asked me what it meant recently, and I said, “tired of everything and negative in attitude.”
“We must become the change we want to see.” –Mahatma Gandhi
One of my best students and essay-writers when I was a college writing teacher used this quote. Self-improvement and self-healing matter. But the statement can seem a bit trite; if your environment/community is abusive, such self-improvement is not easy.
On a sermon
The last Sunday sermon I heard was interesting. It dealt with different language versions of The Bible: Jesus originally spoke in Aramaic, but for a long time the book was ancient Greek. Of course, there is the Old Testament tale of the Tower of Babel, in which people compete with different tongues imposed by God.
Most people seem to read The Bible now in English. I think this has to do with the widespread use of English since Shakespeare. Harold Bloom has been a bit hyperbolic about Shakespeare’s influence, but Shakespeare did change world culture. English has become a global lingua franca.